Between January and September, European Union countries received a record 12.18 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia\u2019s Yamal Arctic project. This was 9.5% more than during the same period last year, according to an analysis by German organisation Urgewald based on Kpler data.<\/p>\n
During the first nine months of the year, the EU paid \u20ac7.88 billion for Russian gas. Of this amount, \u20ac2.88 billion was paid in the first quarter, \u20ac3.08 billion in the second, and \u20ac1.92 billion in the third.<\/p>\n
Between July and September, European ports received 2.21 million tonnes of LNG from Yamal, 13.6% less than in the third quarter of 2025. However, over the entire reporting period, Europe received 167 LNG cargoes, accounting for 85% of all recorded shipments from the project by volume. In effect, Russian LNG cargoes arrived approximately every 1.6 days.<\/p>\n
The increase in deliveries to the EU came despite a 1.3% decline in Yamal\u2019s total global shipments. As a result, Europe not only remained the project\u2019s largest market but also received a greater share of its output.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration is due to conduct its first review under Lindsey Graham\u2019s \u201chellscape sanctions\u201d bill by October 18. The legislation provides for the possibility of imposing restrictions on Yamal\u2019s management, foreign vessels knowingly transporting Russian LNG, and the owners and operators of foreign ports serving vessels subject to US sanctions.<\/p>\n
The application of these provisions depends on presidential decisions and possible exemptions. Urgewald says this creates additional uncertainty over future Russian gas deliveries to Europe.<\/p>\n
Another Russian Arctic project, Arctic LNG 2, is already under US sanctions. According to the organisation, China remains the only buyer of its cargoes.<\/p>\n
To transport LNG through Arctic waters, Yamal relies on specialised Arc7 ice-class tankers. European ports allow the vessels to unload quickly and return to the project. Restrictions on this route and on the services required to operate the fleet could complicate Russia\u2019s Arctic exports.<\/p>\n
In September, the EU received 792,440 tonnes of LNG from Yamal, worth approximately \u20ac818 million, slightly more than in September 2025.<\/p>\n
According to Urgewald, the ban on short-term contracts for Russian LNG imports, which took effect on April 25, 2026, has not yet led to a noticeable reduction in deliveries. France received almost three-quarters of September\u2019s volume.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a full EU ban on Russian LNG imports under the relevant existing long-term contracts is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027.<\/p>\n
Sebastian R\u00f6tters, who leads Urgewald\u2019s sanctions campaign, said continued purchases provide Russia with a large and geographically close market for its Arctic gas. In his view, the EU should not wait for the embargo to take effect but should instead close loopholes in the sanctions regime, including those that allow services to be provided to Arc7 tankers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":152304,"menu_order":0,"template":"","newscat":[9],"newstag":[],"issues":[],"class_list":["post-152303","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","newscat-novosti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/152303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"newscat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newscat?post=152303"},{"taxonomy":"newstag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newstag?post=152303"},{"taxonomy":"issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues?post=152303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}